Devin Booker has started the 2025/26 season again in the familiar position as the Phoenix Suns’ best player. Although the team is off to a 1-2 start, the 28-year-old is averaging more than 26 points per game while also tasked with setting up his teammates as the lead creator every night.
He has done this without Jalen Green so far, although his co-star will soon be back from injury. Instead, it’s Dillon Brooks — the other name the Suns got back in the Kevin Durant trade — who has immediately tried to fill the offensive void left by the loss of one of the best players of all time. That went about as you would expect.
Booker’s efforts have failed as he struggles to readjust.
An interesting – and unwanted – subplot begins to develop, having to do with Booker’s field goal attempts. At 3pm every night you’d think he’d be taking enough shots, and the 33.3 percent starting deep from the campaign clearly has room for improvement as well. But this is actually the second-fewest number of attempts he has attempted since his rookie year (11.4).
How can this be, considering Booker is the cornerstone of the franchise and Green isn’t even on the market yet? The answer rests worryingly in the hands of Brooks, who with a whopping 19.7 attempts every night is clearly relishing putting them in a team that isn’t expected to go anywhere. Head coach Jordan Ott lets this happen for some reason, but it’s also up to Booker to take control of the situation.
Dillon Brooks on Devin Booker making just 10 field goal attempts in Suns 129-102 loss to Clippers: “He’s got to shoot ’em even if it looks like a bad shot. I’ve played against Devin a long time. He’s a natural scorer. Finds ways to score. He just has to be a little selfish… pic.twitter.com/UDOv92OyZL
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) October 25, 2025
Is it just us, or does he look a little slow after three games? Still the player we all know and love, just not quite at the level we’re used to seeing. That could have something to do with the fact that he got paid and he knows this group will only go so far, no matter how much they invest in defending as a team. However, that’s not the Booker that Phoenix has always represented, so we don’t buy that.
Unfortunately, what’s more likely is that Booker is once again trying to accommodate teammates by giving up shots himself, and Grayson Allen is another example of that. His life is about to change when Green returns from injury, but for now he’s playing pretty well. It probably won’t shock you to hear that he’s taking 12 shots every night in his career.
That’s almost five more than last season, and almost three more than in his first season, when Allen effectively replaced Bradley Beal for part of the year. It’s great that he’s comfortable and able to contribute, but again, that’s not the best way for the Suns to get scoring on a consistent basis. Booker just needs to be more aggressive.
The documentary ‘Starting 5’ on Netflix featured Tyrese Haliburton, and they delved into the fact that his time with Team USA – he didn’t play but still won a gold medal – damaged his confidence and it took time to bounce back. Booker is already well past his Paris 2024 “I’ll Do It” mantra, but he’s still making it appear in Phoenix with alarming regularity. He needs to call his number much more often.
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